On Friday 30th November, five Galen VEX Robotics teams will be head to Melbourne Exhibition Center, for the Australian National VEX Robotics Championships.
After tasting success at last year’s Nationals and going onto the VEX Worlds, Galen teams have all been working hard to be as well prepared as possible. Teacher Maree Timms commented, “We are aiming high and hope to gain a spot again at the 2019 VEX World Championships.”
“Having not played in a Melbourne comp this year, we are unsure of how strong the competition will be, but we know it will be tough. We do know that one of our VEX IQ teams, currently holds the highest points recorded for Driver skills in Australia, out of all the officially recorded events. So this bodes well for them.”
The VEX Competition has grown immensely over the last two years. In 2016 there were three local teams in the Nationals, with 20 teams all up playing at Galen. In 2017 there were 7 local teams, and the Nationals were once again held in Wangaratta with 40 teams competing.
This year the National Competition has moved back to Melbourne and will be held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, where 70 teams will be battling it out and there will be 16 local teams competing. These local teams are comprised of: Wangaratta: 5 from Galen and 2 from Borinya in Wangaratta, 7 from Wodonga Middle Years and 2 from St Anne’s in Albury.
Along with Galen’s five teams, the fantastic student mentors and volunteers will be there to assist too.
Year 11 student Madalynn Baumanis will be heading up the Ford GirlPowered event at the Nationals, which she has been asked to run by VEX Australia. This is a great credit to her.
“Ford Australia is delighted to partner with VEX on the GirlPowered workshop, which helps nurture talented young women so they can realise their full potential,” said Jessica Selvay, Innovation Lead of Ford Asia Pacific. “We’re proud to encourage and support young women through educational programs and workshops such as this, and hope that the students will find role models and leadership positions to aspire to in the industry,” added Linda Parkman, Innovation Lead of Ford Asia Pacific.
Rutvik Chaudhary, Tristan Roleff and ex Galen Student, Kyle Fry will be there to MC, referee and operate the software program for the scoring. “It’s great to see so many skills being developed by our students,” noted Maree Timms.
“We also have a number of parents coming along to watch the action and cheer on the Galen teams.
If you happen to be in Melbourne over the weekend, we encourage you to pop on by and come cheer the Galen Teams on.”
The Galen VEX Team would like to thank the Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Programme for supporting their journey to the 2018 Australian National VEX Robotics Championship.
Good luck Galen VEX and fingers crossed for another place at VEX Worlds!
VEX Nationals Itinerary
Friday 30th Nov
- 16:00 Teams Check in and get inspected
- 19:00 Inspection and check in closes
Saturday 1st Dec
- 07:30 Venue opens to teams
- 09:00 Opening ceremony
- 09:40 Drivers meeting
- 10:15 Teams on fields for first three matches
- 13:00 Lunch Break
- 13:30 Girl Powered
- 14:30 Matches restart
- 17:30 Matches finish for the day
- 18:00 ALL teams must be out of the venue
Sunday 2nd Dec
- 07:15 Venue opens to teams
- 08:45 Teams on fields for first three matches
- 11:10 Lunch start
- 11:30 Matches restart
- 13:00 Competition Concludes
- 14:00 ALL teams must be out of the venue